NY Proposes Slate of Oil Train Safety Actions

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A report commissioned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on crude oil transportation safety recommends a slate of actions at the state and federal levels to help prevent disasters like those that have occurred in other states and Canada.

Cuomo sent the report to the White House Wednesday along with a letter urging swift action on four priority measures, including removing outdated rupture-prone tanker cars from service.

Also Wednesday, Sen. Charles Schumer called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to issue a rule that rail companies must share information with local first responders about the types of hazardous materials being shipped.

New York has become a central route for rail transport of crude oil from North Dakota to coastal refineries, with tens of millions of gallons passing through daily.

One fuel shipping company says it will voluntarily start requiring compliance with updated rail car standards for all crude oil trains arriving at its East and West Coast terminals, starting in upstate New York and Oregon.

Global Partners, based in Waltham, Mass., says Wednesday it will only accept trains consisting entirely of the new type of cars, which are more resistant to puncturing and leakage in a derailment like the one that killed 47 people in Canada last year.

The new policy will take effect June 1 at Global's terminals in Albany and Clatskanie, Ore.

The so-called CPC-1232 standards for new tanker cars were developed by the American Railroads Tank Car Committee for cars ordered since October 2011. There are still tens of thousands of older DOT-111 cars on the tracks.